Crunchy peanut cookies

Today I’m going to show you how to make a crunchy Korean peanut cookie that a lot of Koreans grew up with, including me! They’re called Matdongsan (맛동산) cookies, and were created in 1975 by the Haitai company. It’s a fried cookie covered in a light coating of sticky syrup. They are crunchy, nutty, sweet and irresistible. When I first tried these cookies I couldn’t believe such a delicious thing existed in the world. A lot of Koreans agree, and many of us grew up eating Matdongsan cookies.

You can find them at pretty much any Korean grocery store or on Amazon, but I’ll show you how to make them at home. It’s not very hard, although there are some steps to follow to make them delicious. And you need to both fry and bake them so that they get super crunchy.

The method of rolling out the dough is similar to making the doughnuts in my kkwabaegi recipe, so if you made those doughnuts you’re an expert at making a rope out of dough. : )

I hope you and your family and friends enjoy these Korean cookies! Let me know if you make them!

Ingredients

Makes about 12 ounces (340 grams) of cookies

• 1 egg
• ¼ cup white sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon plus 3 cups cooking oil (grape seed oil, vegetable oil, corn oil)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ cup roasted peanuts, chopped coarsely

For syrup:

• ¼ cup rice syrup (or corn syrup)
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 tablespoons water

Directions

Make the dough:

1. Crack 1 egg into a bowl. Add ¼ cup sugar, salt, 1 tablespoon cooking oil, vanilla extract. Mix it well with a spoon.
   
2. Add the flour and baking powder and knead for 1 minute until the dough is smooth.
3. Wrap the dough with plastic wrap and keep it in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Make the syrup:

1. Put ¼ cup rice syrup, 2 tablespoons of white sugar, and 2 tablespoons of water in a small pan.
2. Boil over medium low heat for 8 to 10 minutes until bubbling and the color of the syrup changes to a light brown. Be sure not to stir it, just swirl the syrup around by tilting the pan this way and that. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Form & fry the cookies:

1. Take some dough and roll it out into a long, ¼ inch thick rope. Cut it into 2 inch pieces. Do this with all of the dough.
2. Heat up the cooking oil in a skillet until the temperature reaches about 330° to 350° F. You can test the temperature with a kitchen thermometer, or just dip a piece of cookie dough into the oil. If it creates some bubbles in the oil, it’s right temperature. If it bubbles too vigorously, turn off the heat and wait until the temperature goes down a bit.
3. Fry the cookie dough over medium heat for about 4 to 5 minutes, until they turn a light golden brown and get crunchy. Strain the cookies and fry the second batch.

Bake the cookies:

1. Preheat the oven to 400° F.
2. Place the fried cookies in a cookie pan and bake them for 8 to 10 minutes until they are golden brown and very crunchy. Be sure not to burn and keep checking the color through the oven window.

Put it together:

1. Reheat the syrup.
2. Heat up a skillet over medium heat and add the baked cookies, the peanuts, and the hot syrup. Mix it well with a wooden spoon.
3. Put the sticky cookies on a sheet of parchment paper on your table or cutting board. Let them cool for a couple of minutes, then separate them by hand or a spoon so they don’t stick together.

Serve:

1. Serve as snack or dessert.
2. Keep any leftovers in an airtight container or plastic bag and freeze for up to 1 month.